Book Reviews

Fleeting and unsubtle, Sylvain Neuvel’s THE TEST is, appropriately, all about choices. What decisions will a person make when their future is on the line? How do those choices change under pressure, when the lives of others depend on them?

Bleak, propulsive, and frighteningly plausible, Robert Jackson Bennett’s VIGILANCE imagines an America which has embraced gun violence as inevitable and marketable. Yet the greatest weapons are the tools of media manipulation…

Hellbent for metal and hard-up for mercy, Grady Hendrix’s WE SOLD OUR SOULS follows an aging, has-been musician as she attempts to win back her dignity, and soul, from the bandmate that sold her out.

With a lush backdrop of South Asian-influenced mythology, Tasha Suri’s EMPIRE OF SAND is a promising fantasy debut. Unfortunately tepid pacing, cyclical plot elements, and lack of any kind of surprise diminish the novel’s impact.

Tade Thompson’s ROSEWATER is an alien invasion story far more concerned with how alien humans are from each other. His telepathic protagonist challenges the reader with his jaundiced view of a world askew under extraterrestrial occupation.

SLENDER MAN is a suspenseful, horror-lite, highly-meta novel about the terrors that may or may not exist outside of our own minds. While the found footage tale is unremarkable, it is a fast, fun read for thriller lovers.

Robert Jackson Bennett’s FOUNDRYSIDE is a can’t-put-down ripping heist story – full of lively, memorable characters, increasingly insane stakes, and movie-ready dialogue.

If Little House on the Prairie existed in a grim world of nightly demon attacks, BARREN’s protagonist would be a venerable but beleaguered Laura Ingalls, protecting her community against a backdrop of social politics and sexual persecution.